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LOUISVILLE - By virtue of the draw, two of the top four ranked teams in the 16-team KHSAA state volleyball tournament field faced off Friday night in the first round.

Third-ranked Louisville Mercy (31-10) ousted fifth-ranked Notre Dame (24-12) 3-0 at Valley High School. Set scores were 25-18, 25-22, 25-20. Mercy had won by a similar score Sept. 1.

“It’s a learning experience for us, being a younger team,” said NDA head coach Buck McCoart. “I don’t want to say we’re happy with the fact that we got here, but it gives us another experience under our belts and another lesson to be learned. It doesn’t help the seniors at all and it doesn’t help them feel better about it but they were the leaders on our team and they got us here.”

Mercy had 43 kills to just 10 errors and hit .314 for the match. NDA countered with 37 kills with 17 errors, hitting .182.

Junior Neci Harris led Mercy with 12 kills, seven in the decisive second set. She had just come back from three weeks away with injury for the Sixth Region final. Jayme Scott had 11 kills and Emma Schurfranz nine.

Junior Natalie Hardig led NDA with nine kills. Sophomore Belle Morgan posted seven and sophomore Shannon Gormally eight. Hardig and Gormally combined for nine kills in the first set but NDA only posted eight kills in set three.

“They had more firepower than we did,” McCoart said. “They had more arms, more scoring options, and they beat us there. Our defense was better than it has been. Our blocking picked up towards the end. I really liked our ball control. It was good to see.”

Senior Jackie Noll had 18 digs for NDA and junior Lainey Stephenson 12. Junior Olivia Montelisciani added seven. NDA has four seniors in Noll, Ashley Rees, Caroline Hardig and Sarah Draud, who had six kills in the match.

“The kids have a lot to learn from them,” McCoart said. “Our girls have learned how to accept a role and be a part of the team.”